Sword & Sorcery - Epic Fantasy Co-op board & miniature game

$517,622

3,745

Sword & Sorcery is a fully cooperative fantasy board game, designed by Gremlin Project (Galaxy Defenders) and manufactured and distributed by Ares Games (Wings of Glory, Sails of Glory, War of the Ring).

Preview of the Sword & Sorcery prototype during the Essen Game Fair

We are joining forces to create the next evolution in team-based fantasy gaming: rich gameplay, unique A.I system, and excellent quality physical components, to bring you countless hours of high adventures and heroic quests.

Sword & Sorcery is offered to all our backers (except Supporters) in a Kickstarter Exclusive Edition, including all contents of the Core Set Retail Edition PLUS a wide range of unique Kickstarter content PLUS all unlocked Stretch Goals.

You can add one of the following bundles (Dragon Slayer or Immortal) to your rewards. These Add-on bundles give you a fixed combination of add-ons at a discount, as indicated.

See the description of individual add-ons, below, for additional information.

See the description of individual add-ons, below, for additional information.

The main pledge level of our campaign is called Legendary Hero, and the extensive contents included (a retail value of $200+!) are shown at the top of the page.

Our project also includes a selection of add-ons (that is, items not included in the Legendary Hero rewards above, or included in one copy only). Two special pledge levels (Dragon Slayer Hero and Immortal Hero) combine the "Legendary Hero" rewards with a selection of add-ons (either the "Dragon Slayer" bundle or the "Immortal" bundle). See below (and the Rewards sidebar) for details of all the reward content of these levels.

A pledge level for qualified retailers (Emporium) is also included, exactly equivalent to six copies of the Legendary Hero rewards at a reduced price.

We also include a Supporter pledge level to accomodate backers interested only in some of the project add-ons (such as Hero figures) but not in the game itself. Supporters may increase the pledge level now, or using the Pledge Manager that will be available after the Kickstarter ends. No stretch goals are included in the Supporter level rewards.

As we achieved our initial funding goal, we added extra items to your rewards and improved the contents included in your Kickstarter Edition, based on the funding we achieved.

Most stretch goals apply only to the Kickstarter Edition, but some of our achievements also improved the regular retail version of the game.

Unlocked stretch goals are already included in the banner with your rewards, and in detail in the section "Unlocked Goals", below.

Apart from pledging, there are many other ways to support us. Spreading the word is a key factor in the success of a crowdfunding project, and your activity on social networks may help a lot!
As a token of our gratitude, as we "leveled up" on the social ladder, we added extra rewards.

All the social achievements are now unlocked!

See "Unlocked Goals" below to see the many little "gifts" we unlocked to thank you for your efforts.

Until the end of the campaign, you can still support the project using the Social Links, below, and the buttons below the video, at the top of this page.

Here are the rewards unlocked thanks to our funding milestones and social achievements until now - little gifts to our backers who help us backing and spreading the word about our game.

In this section, you find a selection of items you may optionally add to your rewards.

You can include Add-on bundles (described at the top of the page) or individual Add-ons just by adding the indicated amount, "Managing Your Pledge" with the button on the right sidebar. You will indicate to us your specific choice of add-ons using the Pledge Manager (to be activated on ks.aresgames.eu after the end of the Kickstarter).

If you want Add-ons, it is not mandatory that you increase your pledge now! It will still be possible to include add-ons using the Pledge Manager after the end of the Kickstarter, increasing the pledge amount with PayPal.

If you are interested only in Add-ons, and not in the main reward bundle, you may pledge at the "Supporter" level.

In Sword & Sorcery, one to five players control heroes, with unique powers. who must explore dangerous ruins, ominous forests, and besieged cities. Their skills and abilities are the last, best hope of Talon’s Coast.

The heroes will fight together against the forces of evil - controlled by the game system itself - to save the kingdom and break the spell that binds their souls.

Hero Sheet, 3D sculpt and (hand-painted) actual miniature

These heroes are not your run-of-the-mill adventurers - they are legendary characters, brought back to life by powerful sorcery. Weakened by the resurrection, they grow stronger during the story-driven quests. By acquiring soul points, players regenerate the heroes' souls, returning them to their legendary status - with multiple powers, magic and soul weapons, and powerful artifacts.

Sword & Sorcery's game system represents the perfect evolution of the mechanics first used in Galaxy Defenders. From its forerunner, Sword & Sorcery inherits key features such as advanced AI for monsters, a high degree of character customization, and multiple tactical options during battles. At the same time, gameplay in Sword & Sorcery is fast and dynamic, thanks to an innovative area movement and area control system, and includes new features never seen before in a game of this category.

If the close encounter with our dwarf cleric Thorgar was not enough to persuade you... Keep on reading! :-) Here are a few more reasons to back our project:

Sophisticated Combat and Magic System. A detailed combat system based on two types of custom 10-sided dice and an intuitive cooldown management of spells and skills grants spectacular fights. No numbers or tables to check, just icons and quick strategic decisions!

No Player Elimination. When a hero dies, he becomes a ghost soul, an ethereal form able to use its unique ghost shout against enemies, and then he can resurrect spending Soul points at the gods' altar.

No Game Master required. An innovative A.I. system allows control and management of enemies by the players, giving them intelligent behaviour and creating interesting battles every time.

Modular Boards. Each map tile is double sided and created to be interconnected with any other tile, allowing the creation of endless new quests.

Story-Driven Campaign. A story of intrigue and conflict awaits the heroes… Loot, treasures and traps are just the beginning!

90 Minutes Experience. Quests are designed to be completed in about 90 minutes or less.

Extended Replay Value. Each hero has two different classes to choose from. In addition, quests can be customized by swapping enemies, thanks to the challenge level system, and thanks to the randomly acquired powers, enemies represent a new, unpredictable challenge in every encounter.

If you want a shorter description of gameplay, you can find additional details about the key gameplay of Sword & Sorcery in Update 4.

Disclaimer: We are still proofreading, editing, and playtesting the rulebook. Layout is not final yet. We are sharing it with you to provide an accurate description of gameplay... but please understand it will receive many improvements before we consider it ready to go to print!

Several "Alpha" preview copies of the games and rules are also in the hands of reviewers all over the world. Some of their opinions about the game are public already (see Reviews & Previews, below), and one of the copies landed in Brazil, where our friends of Jogando Offline and Labirinto Filmes prepared for us a very funny gameplay video... Here it is!

And last but not least...Thanks to the amazing support of the team of Tabletopia - a sophisticated virtual table system recently funded on Kickstarter - we are able to offer you a virtual visit to a Sword & Sorcery gaming table... and, together with our beta rulebook, you can actually play the first Quest today!

More English reviews at...

Italian Reviews, Videos and Previews...

Note: all reviews and previews included here are independent, voluntary and not for profit.

We expect Sword & Sorcery to ship to our backers in October 2016.

We will ship from our main warehouse in the USA and from our secondary warehouses in Australia, Canada and Germany. No customs charges will apply to backers in Australia, Canada, European Union, or USA.

Please understand that shipping charges are highly variable by shipping method, destination, and are also subject to change over time. Depending on the success of the Kickstarter, it is also possible that additional secondary warehouses in other countries will be activated.For all these reasons, we are NOT including shipping charges as a part of your pledge at this moment.

Before your rewards ship, you will have access to a section of our website called a "Pledge Manager". There you will have an option to indicate your address and to modify the choice of rewards, if necessary (for example, adding multiple copies). Shipping charges will be calculated and paid at that time.
We remain committed to make every effort to keep shipping charges reasonable, while using reliable shipping methods with guaranteed delivery.

between $ 10 and $ 15 for rewards shipping to a destination in the USA;

between $ 15 and $ 25 for rewards shipping to a destination in Australia;

between $ 15 and $ 25 for rewards shipping to a destination in Canada;

between $ 20 and $ 30 for rewards shipping to a destination in the European Union (this amount also includes VAT charges);

between $ 30 and $ 60 for rewards shipping to a destination outside the territories indicated above.

Please understand the estimate is just that - an estimate - but we'll do our best to make the shipping cost as low as we can.

Sword & Sorcery is a powerful artifact crafted by many talented people, and we are very proud to introduce them here.

Gremlin Project: The two-headed being known as "Gremlin Project" occasionally splits into two separate entities - Simone Romano and Nunzio Surace. Omnivorous players and hardened designers, they are responsible of the game design and art direction.

GT Studio: Fausto and Pedro Gutierrez are the amazing duo who sculpted, to the tiniest details, the legendary heroes and deadly enemies you will find in Sword & Sorcery. Their art and craft is well known to miniature lovers all around the world, as Fausto is one of the lead sculptors of one of the most beautiful SF games on the market, Infinity.

Studio Fiorentino: Fabrizio Fiorentino - a great artist, and also one of the teachers at the International Comics School in Italy - is the creator of the concepts and line-art of all our characters. Alessio Cammardella and Marco Matrone worked at his side, to develop the art of our game.

Phroilan Gardner: Phroilan Gardner created the impressive image used for the Sword & Sorcery box cover, and his art is also going to be featured on Ares' upcoming Age of Conan - Adventures in Hyboria expansion.

0One Games: Mario "Longbeard" Barbati is a veteran of map making for role-playing games. His company - OOne Games - was the first publisher in the world to leverage the Open Gaming license for producing PDF role-playing supplements.

MatrioskArt: Adriano D'Ippolito and Francesca Michelon are the creative minds behind the complex, yet beautiful, graphic design that brings to life the mechanics of Sword & Sorcery and the other games designed by Gremlin Project.

Risks and challenges

Sword & Sorcery is our sixth Kickstarter project.
We already delivered three Kickstarters successfully - Sails of Glory, Galaxy Defenders-Season 1 and Galaxy Defenders-Season 2 - with very positive feedback from our backers.
The production of the rewards of the fourth and fifth Kickstarter (Age of Conan - Adventures in Hyboria and Wings of Glory-Giants of the Sky ) is in progress, and we plan to ship the rewards to their backers within the next 1 to 4 months.

Creating high-quality boardgames and miniatures is not an easy task. However, Ares Games has an excellent track record of publishing games with high-end components, such as those in our War of the Ring, Wings of Glory and Sails of Glory product lines.

Our staff has strong experience producing games with ready-to-play miniatures and a wide range of different components. We have already invested a considerable amount in developing this game, its miniatures and artwork. We don't envision any specific challenge associated with the production of this project.

The main risk at this stage is the project might be delayed, during the remaining stages of the production pipeline, with respect to its scheduled release date. We prefer a reasonable delay to compromising on the level of quality we are looking for in our games in general, and in this product specifically.

There are also risks of delays, as with any game manufactured in Asia, related to transport and delivery to our warehouse in the United States. These are also routinely handled by our logistic staff, but unexpected delays due to customs clearance, strikes, and exceptional weather are always possible, and may influence the time necessary to deliver the games to our backers.

That said, we've looked at how past products have been delayed, and have adjusted our estimates to be a bit more conservative than in the past, to try to avoid repeating past problems and reduce the impact of unforeseen ones.

Support

Select this reward

Pledge $1 or more
About $1.00

Supporter - No rewards included, except our warmest "Thanks!". If you pledge at this level, you may later increase it to include add-ons(using our Pledge Manager system after the Kickstarter ends). SHIPPING CHARGES NOT INCLUDED. Shipping charges will be added to the cost of add-ons by our Pledge Manager system.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $99 or more
About $99

(Day 1 Early Bird) Legendary Hero - You will receive a copy of the Kickstarter Edition of Sword & Sorcery, including all the contents of the core set, Kickstarter special contents, and all unlocked stretch goals. SHIPPING CHARGES NOT INCLUDED.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $110 or more
About $110

Legendary Hero - You will receive a copy of the Kickstarter Edition of Sword & Sorcery, including all the contents of the core set, Kickstarter special contents, and all unlocked stretch goals. SHIPPING CHARGES NOT INCLUDED.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $440 or more
About $440

Emporium (Retailer Only) - You will receive 6 (six) copies of the Kickstarter Edition of Sword & Sorcery, each including all the contents of the core set, Kickstarter special contents, and all unlocked stretch goals. SHIPPING CHARGES NOT INCLUDED.